Resisting Monoracialization: The Struggle for Multiraciality among Mixed-Race Asians in the U.S.

Many mixed-race Asians in the United States (those who are a mixture of Asian and non-Asian ancestries) have successfully constructed multiracial identities based on their acknowledgement of the personal significance of all of their ancestral heritages. However, American society continues to have difficulty fully recognizing such multiraciality because of the continued prevalence of monoracialized discrimination. As a result, mixed-race Asians are pressured to personally associate with only one of their ancestries and may also have difficulty identifying with specific ethnic heritages because they face discriminatory exclusion by monoracial members of their heritage communities who question and challenge their cultural authenticity. Such external monoracialization can fragment their multiracial identifications by causing them to suppress or reject certain ancestries and leave them with an incomplete sense of self or by making their disparate ethnic heritages appear incompatible and irreconcilable. Based on extensive interviews with a diverse sample of mixed-race Asians in the United States, this paper examines how they resist the identity fragmentation caused by monoracialization and maintain the integrity of their multiracial identities by prioritizing internal definitions of self and asserting their multiraciality to others, engaging in various cultural heritage activities, and challenging those who doubt their ethnic authenticity. By laying claim to all of their ethnic ancestries as essential components of who they are, mixed-race Asians are able to construct multiracial selves that make them feel “whole” and “complete.”